Malta in praise for Iran nuclear agreement

The Maltese government welcomed today’s agreement between Iran and six world powers – the US, the UK, France, China, and Russia – that limits Iranian nuclear activity in return for the lifting of global economic sanctions.

“This agreement will go a long way in reducing tensions in the Middle East region, particularly the Gulf, and is a major step in the right direction to resolve one of the long standing international issues,” Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella said in a statement, reiterating that Malta is ready to play its part in support of this Agreement.

Vella highlighted the agreement whereby Iran will have to permanently give the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access “where necessary when necessary”. Malta has been a member of the IAEA since 1997.

“Malta welcomes such close cooperation between the IAEA and Iran, and considers it an important aspect of the Agreement,” Vella said, adding he is looking forward to their Director-General’s report on its implementation due in December 2015.

The agreement would oblige Iran to remove two-thirds of installed centrifuges and store them under international supervision, and to get rid of 98% of its enriched uranium. Sanctions relief would be gradual, with an arms embargo remaining in place for five years and a missiles embargo for eight years.

US President Barack Obama said that with the deal, "every pathway to a nuclear weapon is cut off" for Iran and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has hailed it as “historic”.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised the agreement as a  "stunning historic mistake" that would provide Iran with "hundreds of billions of dollars with which it can fuel its terror machine and its expansion and aggression throughout the Middle East and across the globe".

The Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Boehner, has warned that the deal would only "embolden" Tehran, while Republican presidential candidate Lindsey Graham has described it as a "terrible" deal.